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THE STATE FORESTS 



Forest Fires— Their Danger to Life and Property — Systems 
of Protection in Use in otKer Countries ai\d States — 
Water Power Should Be Conserved — A Water Storage 
Law Reconvmended — Waste Lands Should Be Refor- 
ested — Official Licensed Guides Should Be Created — 
Repeal the Forest Preserve Condemnation Law. 



Report by the Committee oi\ Forests of the New York BoeLrd 
of Tra.de a.i\d Tra.nsportatioi\. 

Nkw York, December i6, 1903. 

To the New York Board of Trade and TransportatioJi : 

At the meeting of the New York Board of Trade and 
Transportation held June 24, 1903, the following resolution 
was adopted, viz.: 

Resolved : That the Committee on Forests be requested 
to investigate the methods taken for the protection of 
forests from lire in this and other countries and report the 
same to the Board at its October meeting, together with 
such recommendations as to the means that should be 
taken in this State for the better protection of its forests 
from fire in the future, and such other recommendations as 
the committee may deem proper in regard to the Forest 
Preserve. 

Pursuant to instructions, the Committee on Forests sub- 
mits the following report. 

The systems chiefly prevailing for the prevention of 
forest fires in India, in the French colonies and in Conti- 



nental Europe where the subject of forestry for many years 
has been engaging the serious attention of statesmen, politi- 
cal economists and practical foresters, are: ist. — A thor- 
ough policing by trained foresters or rangers of the wooded 
regions under supervision. 2d. — In addition to the main 
or wider roads, a network of fire-rides or lanes, peneti^ating 
and crossing the territory under management in every 
direction necessary to carry out the purposes in view. 

As each of these is complementary to the other, it is evi- 
dent that where the natural features of the region are 
favorable to the working of both systems at the same time, 
the possibility of forest fires causing any serious loss, or of 
making any headway is reduced to a minimum. 

The following extracts furnished by the Bureau of 
Forestry at Washington from a report upon forestry inves- 
tigations in the United States Department of Agriculture 
refer to forest protection in Prussia, and show in a manner 
the oversight and efficiency exercised by the authorities of 
that country in this respect; 

" In this country the greatest danger to the forest, besides 
the indiscriminate cutting, is to be found in fires. How 
little this scourge of American forests is known in Germany 
may appear from the statistics of fires in the government 
forests of Prussia (representing 60 per cent, of the German 
forest area), 56 per cent, of which are coniferous, which 
show that railroading may be carried on without the neces- 
sity of extra risks, if proper precautions are provided. 
During the years 1882-1891 there had occurred 156 larger 
conflagrations — 96 from negligence, 53 from ill-will, 3 from 
lightning, and only 4 from locomotives. Seven years out 
of ten are without any record of fire due to this last cause. 

"From 1884 to 1887 fires occurred in Prussia on 3,100 
acres, but only 1,450 were wholly destroyed, i e., 380 acres 
per year, or 0.005 P^^ cent, of the total area of government 
forests. In Bavaria during the years 1877-1881 only 0.007 
per cent, of the forest area was damaged by fire, and the loss 
represented only 0.02 per cent, of the forest revenues. 
During the unusually hot and dry summer of 1892 only 49 
fires, damaging more or less 5,000 acres, occurred. 






" Besides the thoroui^h police organization and the com- 
partment system, which permits not only ready patrolling 
but also ready control of any fire, the system of safety 
strips described in the report of this Division for 1892, 
where a fuller discussion of this subject may- be found, 
prevents the spread of fire from locomotives. 



" In Prussia the maps of the districts are made on the 
scale of 1/5,000 in portfolio sheets, representing a careful 
survey by theodolite of the boundaries of the district, the 
permanent differences of soil and occupancy (roads, waters, 
fields, meadows, moors, etc.), and the division of the district 
into smaller units of management. This kind of map, of 
which only three copies are made, is then, for purposes of 
use in daily routine, reduced to a scale of 1/25,000 on one 
sheet, and printed. The first matter of interest that strikes 
us on these blank or base maps is the division lines by which 
the district is divided into parcels or compartments. In the 
plain these lines divide the district into regular oblong com- 
partments (Jagen) of about 60 to 75 acres each, with sides 
of 100 and 200 yards, respectively, separated by openings 
or avenues which we may call ' rides ' (Gestell schneisse), 
so that the whole makes the appearance very much like the 
map of an American city regularly divided into blocks. 
The rides (from 8 to 40 rods wide) running east and west 
and north and south are lettered, the former, broader ones 
(main avenues) with capital letters, the latter (side avenues) 
with small letters, while the compartments are numbered. 
In the forest itself at each corner a monument of wood or 
stone indicates the letters of the rides and the numbers of 
the compartments, rendering it easy to find one's way or 
direct any laborer to any place in the forest. The rides are 
often used as roads and serve also the purpose of checking 
fires, etc. 

" In the hill and mountain districts this regular division 
becomes impracticable and the lines of compartments con- 
form to the contour, while the opening of the avenues is 
restricted to those which can readily be transformed into 
roads ; roads, indeed, determining the division lines where- 
ever practicable." 

" The German forests are under close supervision of gov- 
ernment authorities so that all particulars, such as planting, 
cutting, and even the gathering of brush has been with the 



consent and under the supervision of the government officials. 
There is, in consequence, no opportunity for advantage to 
be taken by those who make use of the forest, and, as ma}^ 
be seen from the quotations, there are few opportunities for 
fires to start, and there are very small losses from fires." 

A system of roads or fire rides for fire prevention ap- 
proaching in any degree to such a comprehensive and per- 
fect one as that just sketched it would be impossible to 
introduce and make effectual in the forests of this State 
owing to the topography of the regions under discussion. 
Their surface is broken up by a chaos of mountains and 
lesser elevations, while this general irregularity in certain 
sections is still more marked by numerous ravines, gorges, 
passes and precipitous ascents. Again, the introduction 
of any system of fire lanes or trails for the purpose of pre- 
venting fires or fighting them advantageously, into the 
State property in the Forest Preserve would be met by this 
obstacle, that the State forests are not massed in a single 
area. Of various areas and shapes these woodlands are 
distributed throughout the Preserve, some of those in the 
Adirondacks being so scattered and isolated as to be com- 
pletely surrounded by those owned by corporations, clubs 
and individuals. 

Providing for a system of fire lanes and trails, there- 
fore, is out of question at present. The other alternative 
is feasible, and provision should be made to maintain 
a body of paid rangers to patrol all of our forests during 
those months when they are most liable to take fire. A 
common system of fire protection should be applied to 
the great areas of woodlands of the Catskills and Adiron- 
dacks and to those of Long Island, and to this end an un- 
derstanding should be arrived at between the State au- 
thorities and the owners of forest lands other than the 
State's. 

It is well understood that the fires this year in our State 
forests, estimated to have caused a loss of upwards of 
$3,000,000, and which it is said cost some $50,000 to put 



5 

out, were due to a lack of preventive measures at a time of 
unusual drouo^ht and wlien watchfulness over the wooded 
sections of the State was most necessary. 

Numerous lires broke out in various parts of the Pre- 
serve. For a few weeks these were kept within control by 
the employment of bodies of fire fighters. Fanned by 
the high winds that rose after they were started, these fires 
grew rapidly and became unmanageable until they were 
extinguished by rains that fortunately fell in the month of 
June. Had this drought continued these fires would have 
spread and united as those at Miramichi, and the loss of 
human life might have been great. 

The fire at Miramichi, New Brunswick, in 1825, de- 
stroyed in a few hours, its progress was so swift, a region 
of forest covering an area of nearly 6,000 square miles. 
Upwards of 300 persons lost their lives, and thousands of 
wild beasts and domestic animals perished in the woods 
and settlements, and gave forth from their putrescent car- 
casses such efifiuvium and stench as to make the burnt 
sections and the surrounding country deadly dangerous 
from the contagion engendered. " Myriads of salmon, 
trout, bass and other fish poisoned by the alkali formed by 
the ashes precipitated into the waters, lay dead and floun- 
dering and gasping on the scorched shore and beaches, 
and the countless variety of wild fowl shared a similar 
late." But great as this calamity was, that at Peshtigo in 
1 87 1 in Wisconsin, was still more awful. Covering an 
area of twice that of the State of Rhode Island, more than 
1,000 persons perished in its seas of fire. About this time 
also a fire swept across the entire Slate of Michigan, cut- 
ting a swathe in its forests of 180 by 40 miles, an area equal 
to almost that of the State of New Jersey. By this several 
hundred lives were sacrificed. Ten years later the same 
State had a second visitation of fire in which 500 lives were 
lost. Then came in 1894 the fire near Hinckley, Minn. It 
is estimated that about $25,000,000 worth of property was 
destroyed, and 500 persons perished by this calamity. By 
it also some thousands were made homeless. 



In our own State it is estimated that at certain times 
during the summer season there are more than 100,000 visit- 
ors in the Catskill and Adirondack regions occup3ang the 
various cottages and private camps and finding accommoda- 
tions at the numerous hotels and boarding houses. It is also 
to be observed .that the presence of this multitude of health 
and recreation seekers corresponds in time with the period 
when the forests are generally suffering from prolonged 
heat and drought, and, therefore, in the fittest condition to 
take fire. Moreover, the probability of fires breaking out 
in many places at the same time is increased by the many 
and numerous uses of fire for the household and other pur- 
poses of this great host of campers, their guests and board- 
ers. But this likelihood of fires is further increased by the 
weli-recognized fact that a large number of such persons 
are without any sense whatever of responsibility as to the 
serious consequences that may follow a fire due to neglect 
or carelessness on their part. 

Besides these causes fires are often due to malicious 
purposes, to the careless use of matches thrown away and 
not extinguished, from the smoking of pipes, cigars and 
cigarettes, to fires left by campers, hunters or fishers, to 
sparks and other burning material that escape in the clear- 
ing of lands, and the burning of brush and stubble in pre- 
paring ground for cultivation; to fires purposely started to 
secure employment in putting them out again, one of the 
causes, it is charged, for some of the recent fires in our 
State Forest Preserve, while others are said to have been 
due to the sparks and coals from locomotives running 
through the Preserve. 

A knowledge of the above facts and others of a like 
character induces your Forestry Committee to bring be- 
fore you the subject of the security of our State forests — 
the question of how far the existing system for their protec- 
tion is proof against some great conflagration that would 
devastate them — one that would not only inflict a very 
serious and burdensome loss of property upon the entire 



community, but a loss that would be irreparable and de- 
plorable beyond expression, and which could not fail to be 
an ineffaceable reproach upon this great commonwealth — 
the loss of a lari^e number o( human lives. 

Without a doubt because of the surpassing natural 
attractions of the Catskills and Adirondacks as health and 
pleasure resorts, representatives are always to be found 
there from every section of the State and from every State 
of the Union during the summer season, and when it is 
borne in mind that egress from the Adirondack forests is 
confined to limited railroad facilities, with stations many 
miles from the most frequented resorts, approached only 
over narrow mountain roads, paths and trails, the contem- 
plation of the possible loss of human life that would be 
caused by such a fire as swept the forests of Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Canada, is appalling in the extreme. The 
possibility of such a disaster demands from the State 
authorities and the Legislature the enactment of such laws 
as human foresight and vigilance can provide against its 
occurrence. 

The special object of the fire lane is to check the incipi- 
ent ground fire. For this reason these lanes are kept bare 
of all vegetation — of trees, underbrush, rank grasses, and 
indeed, as far as possible, of any cumbustible material. 

The ground fire, the most common of forest fires, con- 
sumes such material as it finds upon the forest floor, as 
dead boughs and branches, withered grasses, dried leaves 
mosses and litter of all kinds, and in particular that most 
dangerous and inflammable litter due to lumbering and the 
refuse of the saw mill. At the same time such a fire may 
become so hot as to destroy the tender undergrowth, young 
trees and so scorch the older and larger timber as to 
seriously injure if not kill some of it. 

A lire, however, of this character if promptly attended 
to is easily halted and extinguished, or it may burn itself 
out when it has reached the bare earth of the fire lane for 
lack of fuel, as the fire lane is often an effectual barrier to 



8 

the further advance of the ground-fire. If not checked the 
ground-fire often grows to such dimensions as to pass al- 
together beyond the control of human agency. 

Once having obtained sufficient headway, it rapidly in- 
creases its area of ravage, fanned as it is b}^ the drafts of its 
own creation. Powerful currents of air are set in motion. 
From the surrounding atmosphere there is an inward rush- 
ing of air to take the place of the hot and rarefied currents 
ascending over the regions of the burning forests. These 
in their turn bear aloft shoals of sparks, red hot cinders, 
embers, and the larger materials loosened from the blazing 
trees. Carried forward by the winds and sometimes borne 
across streams and broader sheets of water, these fiery par- 
ticles and fire brands are scattered broadcast, and in a sea- 
son of long-continued drought, falling among the dry 
foliasfe, underbrush and the tinder-like debris of the wind 
or lumber slash start new fire centres and advance and en- 
large the zone of devastation. 

Thus the ground-fire so insignificant at its beginning 
often develops into the giant conflagration, the dreaded and 
uncontrollable top-fire. Unlike the ground-fire, the top or 
crown fire as it runs and leaps along the forest tops, de- 
scends, seizes upon, and converts by the intense heat it 
generates, the green living timber into fuel for its own con- 
sumption, multiplies its powers for destruction, and often 
leaves behind it nothing but the wasted, charred and 
blackened landscape. 

In certain regions of the State the evils to be looked for 
arising from fires are of the gravest nature. In the more 
level sections lands that have been denuded of their cover- 
ing may in time be clothed with forest. But the steepness 
of the acclivities and the scantiness of the soil in many par^^^s 
of these mountains would preclude a second growth of 
vegetation of any kind whatever. The slides of McComb, 
Colden, Marcy, the Gothics and of other elevations bare of 
all plant life, the hanging precipices of Wallface Mountain 
and Dix's Peak, to which no vegetation can cling, are omi- 



nous of the conditions to which tires would reduce this and 
other sections of the Adirondack Preserve. A tire of any 
magnitude there would dr\- up their lile-j^iving springs, 
overwhelm their streams and lakes with the debris of burn- 
ing mountains, and transform the wild and picturesque 
beauty and grandeur of their scenery, now so generally 
recognized and appreciated into the very "abomination 
of desolation." 

The probability of this is also largely increased by the 
topography of the region itself, its plexus of waters being a 
unique one, presenting natural conditions unknown else- 
where upon this continent or in the Old World. 

Its thousand ponds and lakes, strung together like pearls 
on the threads of its gleaming brooks and rivers, are in the 
main but small bodies tilling the depressions and narrow 
passes between the steep mountain slopes, some of them 
being simply pools of water held in the pockets of the 
rock. The necessity, then, of exercising an unfailing vigi- 
lence over these elevations to preserve them from fire and 
its consequent evils will be the better understood from the 
following reasons: The soft-wood forests crowning them 
find for the most part an uncertain foothold upon a com- 
paratively thin stratum, in some localities a mere veneer of 
soil. This rests in its turn upon a rock much of which has 
been worn and smoothed down by the grinding processes of 
the glaciers which ages ago covered this region. The sup- 
port which the sc^ft woods receive from the hard woods, it 
will be seen, prevents the former from sliding down and 
precipitating themselves upon the sections below. As fires 
will often attack the hard woods first, by reason of their 
more open growth and dryness, so their destruction will be 
the occasion of landslides and avalanches from among the 
evergreens above. 

The likelihood of such irreparable disasters by fire is 
emphasized bv those which have already taken place from 
the steepness of the acclivities. This is made manifest by 
the huge areas of barren rock to be seen from almost any of 



lO 

the Adirondack peaks, as well as by the cases of the 
Edmunds' Ponds and those of the Ausable, Lakes Colden 
and Avalanche and other bodies of water which have been 
partially filled or severed by the debris poured into them 
from the enclosing steeps. 

Should our wooded elevations in a season of prolonged 
drought be ravaged by fires of any great magnitude it 
would be, considering the relation which this Common- 
wealth bears to the rest of the Union, not only a State but 
a national calamity. 

A catastrophe of this character could not fail to deal a 
mortal blow at some of the industries that have given to it 
in the past and assure it now its commanding mercantile 
position. Not only this, but the necessity of developmg 
others, if that were possible, to conform to the new con- 
ditions imposed upon it by their destruction, would arise. 
What is more serious still, this would happen at a time 
when competition between the most advanced nations and 
communities has not only reached a stage unprecedented 
in the history of the commercial world, but must grow more 
severe, owing to the progressive, intelligent and forceful 
character of all those now engaged in the direction and 
development of this mercantile rivalry. 

This unrivalled commercial position which the State 
has profited Irom for so many decades is to be traced in a 
large' measure back to its system of waterways which are 
dependent for their existence upon its watersheds. To this 
system is to be attributed that splendid chain of cities ex- 
tending through the State which, lor their population and the 
varied industries centered in them, has no parallel elsewhere 
in our country. It is this system also that has developed 
and maintained its vast agricultural interests and created a 
home market for its home products thus giving the State 
an independence enjoyed by none of its sister States. To 
its watersheds we must look for the protection and pros- 
perity of its enormous manufacturing industries, employing 
more capital and using more water horse-power than those 
of any other State. 



II 

Water-power, when properly conserved and utilized, is 
the cheapest of all power for manufacturing purposes. 
Water flows continuously by the force of gravitation. 
The development of its power goes on without the expense 
that follows coal from the mine to the furnace, an expense 
that must increase with deeper mining. 

In connection with this subject of water and water 
power, it is an interesting fact to note that the natural 
features of the State are of that character that it possesses 
through them the incomparable advantage of having the 
supreme control of all its water sources. 

In the possession of these and its labyrinth of brooks 
and streams, of lakes and ponds of various areas and alti- 
tudes, all going to constitute an unsurpassed and natural 
system for water storage, water precipitation and water- 
power production, the State holds the keys to the vast 
treasure-house of its own immense water-power resources 
now but comparatively little drawn upon or developed. 

As to their commercial value, their possibilities for the 
evolution of mechanical energy and the creation of indus- 
trial wealth, some realization, however inadequate it must 
be at present, may be formed by a consideration of the 
agencies at work in producing them — the sun and the 
ocean, the former the greatest of motors, drawing upon the 
deep exhaustless reservoirs of the latter, and replenishing 
the run-off, the evaporation and other waste of our rivers. 
By this constant interchange between the land and the seas, 
their powers and their wealth-producing capabilities are 
renewed and go on forever. 

Of the latter it is estimated that if the State stored its 
river powers and leased them, they would bring it an annual 
revenue from $15,000,000 to $18,000,000, a sum equal to an 
invested capital of from $300,000,000 to $360,000,000 at 
5 per cent, interest. While such figures indicate onl}' to a 
degree the magnitude of our water-power resources, they 
make evident the necessity of providing for some far- 
reaching and comprehensive system of legislation and 



12 

administration that will protect the interests the com- 
munity at large has in them. 

This view of the subject is confirmed and strengthened 
by the obvious capabilities of the water-system of the State 
for the production of electric power — a force which, as yet 
developed to but to a limited extent by our industries, gives 
certain promise of being a more valuable asset for it than 
even its water-powers. 

Again, steam is losing the advantages it once possessed 
over water-power. Already the successful utilizing of some 
of our water courses for the generation of electricity points 
to the general application of this subtile and powerful agent 
as a motive power in the progress of the various arts and 
industries that go to promote and assure the welfare of the 
community. The near future will witness the transmission 
over long distances of electric energy developed from 
dynamos driven by the water-power of our streams, and to 
such a degree that coal will be utilized for the production 
of power only when found in the neighborhood of the 
workshop or mine. Thus a new and increased value 
attaches to our rivers and their tributaries; another source 
of wealth has been discovered existing in them which 
cannot fail to add to our material prosperity if wisely 
conserved. In their perpetual flow is to be found a power 
whose potential forces it is impossible to estimate, as their 
availability for administering to the multiplying conveni- 
ences, necessities and pleasures of our complex civilization 
appears to be without limit. 

Your Committee believe that the foregoing general re- 
marks will have almost universal approval, and this brings 
us to the consideration of the plan upon which the develop- 
ment of the water and electrical power within our State 
may be undertaken. Such a development of water power 
and electrical power as is possible in this State, and such a 
construction as will best promote the advancement of our 
industrial interests, would be too vast to be undertaken by 
ordinary individuals or corporations. Indeed it would be 



13 

opposed to public policy, in our judgment, to permit any 
corporation to undertake such development or to exercise 
the domination over the industrial development of the State 
which the control of the water powers upon our rivers and 
water courses would give it. The most precious interests 
of the State are involved. Not only for water power, elec- 
trical power and industrial development will these waters 
be needed, but, in the near future, the growing and vast 
population of our cities will demand, and must have, the 
pure, potable waters of our forest regions for their daily 
uses. Tt is the part of wisdom and foresight, therefore, to 
oppose any and all plans of development of water power and 
electrical power which will enhance the control by corpora- 
tions or individuals of the water powers of this State, and 
it is the duty of the State, in our judgment, to devise and 
inaugurate a comprehensive plan of water-power and 
electric-power development under State control and man- 
agement. Such plan should take into consideration the 
interests of the State as a whole, and, whilst conserving and 
promoting such interests, should liberally compensate indi- 
viduals for sacrifices which may be required of them for 
the general good. The cost should be borne by the State 
except, possibly, by localities affected, and in such instances 
should be fairly distributed. The broadest powers of the 
State will be of necessity exercised, and these, upon official 
initiative, should be first approved by the Governor and 
State Engineer, and, finally, by legislative enactment after 
proper and thorough investigation as to plans and cost. 

In concluding our consideration of the systems in use 
in other countries and states for the protection of forests 
against fire as such may be adapted to the State of New 
York we summarize as follows: 

I St. Fire lanes, as used in other countries, are not gen- 
erally adapted to the forest regions in New York State. 

2d. All successful systems of forest fire prevention in 
other countries and states include a more or less thorough 



H 

policing of the regions under supervision, and the providing 
of proper means of access to different parts of the forest. 
The elaboration of such system of policing requires a careful 
consideration of local conditions in our own State. 

The Committee, therefore, recommends the adoption of 
a thorough system of policing by rangers, guards, or fire- 
wardens, as they are termed in the various countries which 
have such systems. 

Your Committee has referred to the fact that conflagra- 
tions in the forests are frequently caused by the imperfectly 
extinguished or smoldering camp hres left by inexperienced 
and careless campers. We regard this as an important 
source of danger, and, therefore, recommend that camping 
parties shall be required by law to employ official guides 
licensed by the State ; that such guides shall be held re- 
sponsible for the perfect extinguishing of camp fires of 
parties or individuals under their guidance; that official 
guides shall be given the powers of constables and provided 
with a suitable shield or insignia of their office ; that 
licenses shall be issued annually to such guides by the 
State upon evidence of the good character of applicants and 
of their possessing the necessary experience to qualify 
them, and that their compensation shall be fixed by law at 
such maximum sum per diem as is now charged by com- 
petent guides. 

This plan, if adopted, will give official status to the 
guides ; it will prevent irresponsible and inexperienced 
persons from pretending to knowledge of the craft they 
do not possess; it will insure the comfort and safety 
of campers, and the guides will become a very im- 
portant factor in preventing infractions of the laws of the 
woods, not only in respect to tires, but in other respects 
also. 

With respect to fires caused by locomotives, the most 
practical course seems to be to hold the railroad com- 
panies responsible for the damage done. To insist that 
they shall use spark arresters, or shall burn oil, or shall do 



15 

any other specific thing, as now provided by law, under 
penalty of a paltry fine, has not in the past been sufficient 
to prevent the starting of fires by locomotives. The 
absence of specific directions in law or fines and penalties 
would not prevent railroads from using whatever precau- 
tions seem to them best, but, on the contrarv, would tend 
to make them exceedinglv careful. 

We recommend the development of the existing, but 
unused, water power of the State and its utilization under 
a proper and equitable system, controlled by the State, for 
the extension of our manifold industries, and as a measure of 
relief of such sections of the State as suffer from the evils 
of flood, and that this be done upon the lines indicated in 
the foregoing report. 

These two questions may be practically combined, and 
a proper system of water-power development may be so 
designed that it will to a large degree remove the evils of 
flood. 

The Board of Trade and Transportation in the Legis- 
lature of 1903 opposed and defeated the Water Storage 
Commission Bill for reasons which were then clearly stated, 
and which need not be herein repeated. 

We believe that the whole influence of this Board should 
be directed to securing proper legislation on these subjects. 

We request the attention of the Board to the fact that 
the State owns only about a quarter of the 200,000 acres of 
the waste lands within the boundaries of the Adirondack 
Park. 

The State should not only reclaim its own, but where 
these denuded woodlands belong to others, and can be 
purchased at a reasonable price, as many of them can now 
be, it would be a profitable and beneficent plan lor it to buy 
and reforest them. 

The efforts of the Forestry, Fish and Game Commission 
to plant some of these burnt and waste areas with seedling 
trees, and so in time to reforest them, are to be commended. 
These and the plans of the Commission to establish nurseries 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



i6 



000 922 846 9 



for the raising of seedlings for both the Catskills and 
Adirondacks, ought to be encouraged by the appropriation 
of sufficient funds to carry on this work of reclamation. 

The individual cannot be expected to enter upon any 
large scheme of forest planting and growth. His life is 
too brief for such an undertaking. On the contrary, the 
State exists and lives on, transmitting from one generation 
to another its prosperity and the various benefits that 
proceed from it to every class of its citizens. 

Whilst the State has hesitated to resume its former 
policy of extending the Forest Preserve, there can be no 
valid objection to the purchase and reforesting of the 
waste lands as herein suggested and which we recommend. 

The powers of condemnation by the State of private 
lands within the Forest Preserve, as provided by law are, 
in the opinion of your committee, unnecessarily drastic 
and inequitable. These powers wholly ignore the rights of 
individuals and work great and unnecessary hardship and 
deprivation to the citizen. This law has been in force 
several years and stands as a menace to every land owner 
and a cloud upon every title within the limits of the Forest 
Preserve, covering in part fourteen counties, and we 
recommend that the act be repealed. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Edmund P. Martin, 
Peter F. Schofield, 
Henry S. Harper, 
James MacNaughton, 

Comtnittee on Forestry, 
Neiv York Board of Trade and Transportation. 

Submitted to the New York Board of Trade and 
Transportation, December i6, 1903, and ordered to be 
printed. 



[L-6445] 



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